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Welcome to Scouting...

Thank you for taking on a role in scouting. You are joining the most successful youth movement the world has ever seen. Scouting was one of the outstanding success stories of the 20th century and continues to grow in the 21st century. From a gathering of 20 boys on Brownsea lsland in 1907 our Movement has had over 300 million Members worldwide and has a current membership of over 40 million!

Scouting is about everyday people working as leaders and supporters in their communities, giving young people confidence, a sense of purpose, life values and outdoor skills that are hard to find anywhere else. Whatever role you are taking on you will also have the opportunity to learn new skills, make new friends and give something back to your local community. You will be helping young people (directly or indirectly), gain skills for life and have amazing adventures as part of the larges co-educational youth organisation in the UK.

If you have any questions as you work through this guide, click on the ‘Got a question’ button at the bottom of the page, fill in the form and we will get back to you with the answer.

Making you feel welcome

When you start a new job, someone will usually tell you about the company you have joined, where you fit in, what is expected of you and where you can gain support and the skills necessary to do your job. Taking on a role in scouting is no different and that’s the aim of this email and our welcome web pages!

As an adult volunteering with scouting you have a unique role to play in the lives of young people. Over time you will meet young people who are benefitting from the fun and adventure they have had while in our care. They may not say thank you today. next week or even when they leave but throughout their lives they will remember and use the skills and fun they had as a Scout!

We don’t expect you to do this on your own and you will receive lots of support and focused training for your role.

Baden-Powell once said, 'Scouting is not a science... it is a great game'. Enjoy the game, have fun helping others and thank you for contributing to the lives of young people in your local community.

A welcome from the Chief Scout...
Our introduction wouldn’t be complete without a welcome message from the UK Chief Scout, Bear Grylls. Click the play button to view.

Introduction and purpose

These pages are designed to give you a brief overview of scouting and provide a guide to your first few months in the Movement. It will also give you an idea of the types of support available to you and will hopefully answer some of the many questions you are likely to have.

The site provides you with the opportunity to work you way through the sections in the order list to the left or you can click on the subject headings to jump to a section.

We hope that after reading through these pages you will:

feel welcome and comfortable as a new member of Scouting

get excited about our programme

Start to learn more about Scouting or history and traditions

know how to access training and other learning opportunities that will help you develop

know about the many resources that can help you along your Scouting adventure.

If you have any questions as you work through this guide, click on the ‘Got a question’ button at the bottom of the page, fill in the form and we will get back to you with the answer.

You’re not alone! The people in your team are your number one resource. Ask lots of questions.

Scouting s growing! To fulfil our promise of providing ‘life changing adventure’ for a whole new generation of youth, we need more volunteers than ever before. Our volunteers are talented, and they need to feel supported and know that they can add value from day one.

That’s why we ensure that our leaders, volunteer line managers and supporters have the knowledge, support, sense of commitment, and enthusiasm they need to thrive. Without making this happen for our volunteers, we risk not having the broad impact on our communities across South London that we know is possible.

Our five pillar approach to volunteer support

Achieving this requires a holistic and sustained approach to supporting you in your role. To do this we have developed five key pillars of support:

Each of the five pillars comprises of key support and tools to help you develop as a volunteer in scouting and to enable you to help provide quality scouting to young people be it as a leader or as a volunteer line manager or support.